Forgotten Keep and the Western Lands

Into the Spire of Oskar

9

JAN/15

Rolf dragged the tentacled head of the giant worm out of the cavern with the rest of the party following close behind. As twilight fell across Black Rock Valley the Rolf deposited the monstrous head in the center of the valley while the group lead the donkey and wagon to the waterfall. At the waterfall they parked the wagon behind some rocks. Two sets of stairs lead to paths cut into the rock that wrapped around a pool which the waterfall emptied into. The paths both disappeared behind the waterfall and as the pool flowed over its rocky edge and down through the valley.

The group lead the donkey up the stairs and along the path to the left. As they approached Rolf moved behind the waterfall and found a large stone door. As Amarae approached the waterfall the mist burned her skin and throat but did not affect anyone else. Rolf said a prayer to Oskar and the door slid open. Rolf then gave his Ax to Amarae and she was able to pass through the water safely.

Inside a fine stone passageway lead through a guard room as the door slid shut behind the party. The guard room contained two sets of dwarf armor with axs. They turned towards the party but backed away when Rolf approached speaking about Oskar.

Moving past the guard room the stairs lead to a small chamber with murals of dwarves in various acts of strength and bravery. All the dwarves seemed to have a silver streak in their beards.

Stairs lead up into a grand chamber with a huge raised podium on the far end of the room. In the center was a pentagram with white dwarf skulls at the points. Half a dozen dwarf skeletons were scattered across the room. Huge murals covered the walls on the left and right but they had been defaced with only small parts still visible. Studying the remains of the mural revealed the ones toward the front of the room contained dwarves and elves fighting together but everything they fought was defaced.

Rolf removed the pentagram and placed the skulls back with the skeletons on the side of the room ready for burial. Gannic removed one of the holy symbols of Oskar and handed it to Rolf who doned it. Rolf noticed words along the roofline of the chamber saying Strength, Compassion and Bravery. No one else could see them. Four alcoves also contained nothing but Rolf could see murals on the walls showing two battles against an human female dressed studiously with blood running from her mouth. She had old looking eyes, pale skin and black hair. Behind her were nondescript human figures wrapped in cloth with blades. In one mural a dwarf stood against her and in another an elf. Both had text ‘The Ageless Evil” below them. The other alcove showed a dwarf with an ax and below it the text “The Ax of Heroes”. The last alcove showed a scene of a dwarf holding a gate on his shoulders as other dwarfs rushed through.

The doors to the left and right lead down to a stone trench with water flowing through it turning two water wheels. Two screws turned on the edge of the room carrying water upward.

Moving up the stairs on the south side of the room lead to a smaller chamber lined with six sets of armor with swords. As the party moved into the room all the armor and swords attacked. Two thunderwaves knocked the suits of armor back and shattered five of the six swords that raised into the air towards the party. The armor suits rushed towards Rolf and Theoren managed to destroy one set of armor. The armored suit’s gauntlets pummeled Rolf but Gannic healed him and Rolf crushed two of the suits with his maul. The other armors continued to attack Rolf, Theoren and Amarae destroyed them. Gannic grabbed the sword making it ineffective and Sid shattered it with his ax. As the party moved to leave the room Gannic noticed the armor pieces every so slowly moving back together.

The stairs lead to another room with stairs and an Ax in the center of the room. This room contained five dwarf skeletons equipped with armor and weapons. They had various signs of wounds mostly in their backs. Gannic detected strong magic coming from the ax and weapon stand. Written on the Ax stand were the words “The Ax of Rhzor”. The party decided to leave the ax and moved up the stairs into the next room. There a walkway lead to a platform with stairs leading up. The stairs were surrounded by a pool with water flowing into the room along the walkway and back out along the other side. As Rolf approached the water formed into a large mass and slammed him twice, he tried to move through it but could not and he retreated. Gannic tried to walk through the water but the water figured moved to stop him. Amarae turned into a water snake and swam towards the stairs but with the same results. She then moved to where the water was flowing into the room and with Gannic’s light could see that the water was coming from a screw farther in the wall.

The party moved back down to the ax and Amarae as a snake crawled onto the ax. Rolf then picked it up. The writing on the base of the weapon stand disappeared and as Gannic went to replace the Ax with Rolf’s he felt a slight breeze in the room.